In It, each character has a problem that later transforms into their greatest fear, a tool utilized by the entity It to prey on them and eventually kill or control them. The alternation of forms conceived by Stephen King made It a real force of nature.

Bill Denbrough

Determined and resourceful protagonist.
His brother is murdered.
The leader of “The Loser’s Club.”

Bill is the main protagonist in Stephen King’s ‘It,’ he is determined and resourceful. Bill sets out on a path of revenge after his brother George is murdered. After the death of his brother, Bill notices the hopeless nature of his parents, and he tries to restore their family dynamic by killing the murderer responsible for George’s demise. Bill forms The Loser’s Club and becomes their unofficial leader.

Bill’s bravery and valiance, along with his quest for vengeance, make him the greatest threat to It. After first defeating It in 1958, Bill eventually kills the monster he so hated and dreaded once and for all after it had kidnapped his wife, Audra. Bill had a stuttering problem which earned him the nickname ‘Stuttering Bill.’ It worsened after George died but faded off in his teenage years. However, his stutter returned when he returned to Derry 27 years later to kill the terror of his childhood.

Benjamin Hanscom “Ben”

Member of the Loser’s Club
Intelligent, bookworm
A target of bullies

Ben Hanscom is a member of The Loser’s Club. He is an intelligent bookworm with excellent mechanical skills which helped The Loser’s Club defeat It. Nicknamed ‘Haystacks,’ Ben’s intelligence enabled him to build the silver slugs they used to injure It. He also oversaw the building of an underground clubhouse for The Loser’s Club. Ben was a favorite target for bullies like Henry because of his weight. Ben left Derry together with Beverly after The Loser’s Club’s final encounter with It.

Richard Tozier “Richie”

A jokester
Has severe shortsightedness
Known as “Trashmouth”

Richie Tozier is a jokester and a member of The Loser’s Club whose impersonation of voices becomes very useful for the group in defeating It. His undying love for the group also makes him ensure the group stays together. Richie has severe shortsightedness, requiring him to wear thick glasses. Richie usually causes trouble for himself. As an adult, he becomes a disk jockey in Los Angeles, where he uses his voice imitation to his benefit. Richie and Mike were able to hallucinate It’s origin broadening the entire Loser’s Club’s knowledge of the monster. Richie is known as ‘Trashmouth’ by the group.

Edward Kaspbrak “Eddie”

Frail and a hypochondriac
Becomes a limousine rental company owner
His mother is overprotective

Eddie Kaspbrak is a frail boy and a hypochondriac who carries an inhaler with him, believing he has asthma. Having lost his father at a young age, Eddie’s mother constantly worries over his health, making him think he is sick with asthma. As a child, Eddie gets attacked, and injured by Henry, leaving him with a broken arm. His mother refuses to allow his friends from The Loser’s Club to visit him, but he finally tells her to stop worrying too much about him.

Eddie later becomes a limousine rental company owner. In another confrontation with Henry, Eddie kills him with a broken bottle. Eddie later dies from blood loss after It rips his arm off. He dies in his friends’ arms but they have to leave his body behind as the sewers collapsed.

Beverly Marsh “Bev”

Attracted, red-haired girl
A tomboy and only female member of The Loser’s Club
Becomes a successful fashion designer

Bev is an attractive red-haired girl with a tomboy personality. She is the only girl in The Loser’s Club and the subject of various crushes from the young boys around her. Beverly suffered from an abusive father who constantly beat her while her mother was away at work. As a grownup, Beverly becomes a successful fashion designer. However, Beverly doesn’t escape abusive relationships as she marries Tom Rogan, a man who beats her and sees her only as a sex object. Beverly finally finds love with Ben and leaves with him on their final defeat of It in 1985.

Stanley Uris “Stan”

Logical, skeptical, and often bullied.
Becomes a successful accountant.
Commits suicide

Stan Uris is a Jewish boy who is the most skeptical of the members of The Loser’s Club. Stan relied on logic and believed everything followed a particular order making him doubt the existence of the creature It. Because of his Jewish origin, Henry bullied Stan. As an adult, Stan becomes a successful accountant in Atlanta, living with his wife, Patty Blum. Stan kills himself on receiving a phone call from Mike about It’s awakening. He writes “IT” on the wall before slitting his wrist.

Michael Hanlon “Mike”

Last member of The Loser’s Club.
Is set apart from the group due to his ethnicity.
Becomes the librarian in Derry.

Mike Hanlon is the last to join The Loser’s Club. He is the only African-American in the group. Due to his Baptist faith, Mike attends a separate school from the Club. Mike joins The Loser’s Club after they help him defeat Henry in a rock fight. With his father’s collection of photos, The Loser’s Club traces It in the form of Pennywise, the dancing clown throughout Derry’s history. Mike eventually becomes the only member of the club to stay in Derry, becoming a librarian. On the resurgence of deaths in the town, Mike calls the group back for a reunion to kill It forever. After defeating It, Mike begins losing memories of their encounter with It.

It

The antagonist
A shapeshifting entity with an unknown origin
Sleeps for twenty-seven years at a time

It is the main antagonist in the story and is an ancient shapeshifting entity that kills people by appearing in the form of their fears. Though knowledge of It’s exact origin was elusive to The Loser’s club, It was as old as the universe as he existed in a void between our universe and other universes, a place he called the macro verse. His final form is a spider, and his essence is in the form of orange lights, which were called deadlights, and looking directly at them could drive a person to insanity or kill them. The book speculated It to be female as the monster laid its eggs after deeming The Loser’s Club a real threat.

It manifested in numerous aliases from Pennywise the dancing clown to a werewolf, a mummy, George, Frankenstein, and a leper. Apart from having the power to shapeshift, ‘It’ can control people into doing its bidding. After being defeated by The Loser’s Club, It went to sleep, only waking up 27 years later. On noticing The Loser’s Club was in Derry again, It set out on a path of revenge to get rid of them once and for all. It used Henry to try and kill the members of The Loser’s Club, but was unsuccessful as Eddie killed Henry. It finally managed to take Audra hostage but failed in getting rid of The Loser’s Club and was killed by Bill.

Henry Bowers

A young antagonist
Leader of a group of bullies
Loses his mind and kills his father

Henry is an antagonist and the crazy leader of the Bowers group, a gang comprised of seven twelve-year-olds who constantly bully members of The Loser’s Club. Henry’s father is racist and abusive something that is incredibly influential in the young boy’s life. Henry turns his hate toward Stan and Mike, the members of The Loser’s Club who are Jewish and African-American. Slowly, Henry starts losing his mental stability as It takes him over and attempts to use him to kill The Loser’s Club. With the switchblade sent by It, Henry kills his father but is unsuccessful in killing The Loser’s Club.

Henry’s encounter with Frankenstein, an alternate form of It, left him mentally traumatized. The authorities find a mentally deranged Henry and send him to a mental asylum after blaming him for the murder of children in Derry.

Twenty-seven years later, Henry escapes the mental institution and returns to have his revenge. On realizing the opportunity, It instructs Henry to kill the members of the Loser’s Club. However, on confronting Eddie, Henry is killed with a broken bottle.

Patrick Hockstetter

A psychopath and part of Henry’s gang
He killed his younger brother
Has a relationship with Henry

Patrick is a psychopath and part of the Bowers gang. He became a killer at the age of five when he murdered his little brother by suffocating him. He finds solace in torturing and killing animals. Patrick finds himself falling for Henry as he makes sexual advances to him, even giving Henry a hand job. After the act, Patrick offers Henry oral sex but gets a punch and threat from Henry, who threatens to expose his secret about the refrigerator Patrick kept animals he captured and killed.

Patrick tries to clean out the refrigerator when he is attacked by flying leeches. Patrick passes out due to losing too much blood and is dragged off by It, who feeds on him with Beverly watching. The Loser’s Club later finds his corpse as It warns them by writing in Patrick’s blood, telling them to stay away else it will kill them.

Reginald Huggins “Belch”

A sidekick in the Bowers gang.
Six-feet tall at twelve years old
He is killed by It.

Belch Hugging is one of the sidekicks of Henry and a member of the Bowers gang. Belch is a huge boy with a height of six feet despite being twelve years old. Belch’s loyalty to the group, especially Henry, earned him his nickname ‘Belch.’ After Henry was ordered by It, Belch followed him as they enter the sewers to kill The Loser’s Club.

On encountering Frankenstein, an alternate form of It, Belch stays behind as he defends Henry, who escapes. Belch eventually dies as he is overpowered by It, who mutilated his face. Twenty-seven years later, It takes the form of a rotting Belch Huggins and drives Henry to the hotel where The Loser’s Club stays so Henry can get rid of them. The Loser’s Club later finds his corpse when they fought ‘It’ finally.

Victor Criss “Vic”

One of Henry’s sidekicks
Smarter than other members of the Bowers gang

Vic is one of Henry’s sidekicks and is the brightest in the Bowers gang. Vic’s good heart leads him to help The Loser’s Club by warning them of Henry’s increasing mental instability. Vic has a change of heart when he notices Henry’s elevated insanity. He tries to join The Loser’s Club but decides against it leading to him following Henry and Belch into the sewers, where they encounter Frankenstein, an alternate form of It. During their encounter, It Kills Vic by tearing him apart.

George Denbrough

Bill’s six-year-old brother
He is killed by It at the beginning of the book

George is the six-year-old brother of Bill. He gets killed by an alternate form of It, a clown calling himself Pennywise, who ripped his arm when he tried to reach for his boat in the drain. George’s death sparked Bill’s quest to get revenge on the murderer who took his brother’s life.

Steve Sadler “Moose”

Helps torture the members of The Loser’s Club

Moose is a disabled member of the Bowers gang who partook in tormenting members of The Loser’s Club. Moose helps Henry break Eddie’s arm and also took part in bullying Mike.

Peter Gordon

A member of the Bowers gang
Leaves the group after the rock fight

Peter is a member of the Bowers group, who decides to leave the group after the rock fight with The Loser’s Club. On realizing Henry’s growing insanity, Peter alienates himself from the group. 

Tom Rogan

Beverly’s abusive husband
He dies of shock

Beverly’s abusive and violent husband. His psychopathic nature gives him a predator view of women. Tom tries to punish his vulnerable wife, who he sees only as a sex object, when she escapes, leaving him to go to Derry. On his arrival, It convinces him to kidnap Bill’s wife Audra and bring her to his layer. Tom dies of shock on seeing It’s final form.

Audra Philip Denbrough

Bill’s wife
A film actress

Audra is Bill’s wife and a famous film actress. She follows her husband to Derry due to her worry over his mental health. Tom Rogan kidnaps Audra on the order of It, and she enters a catatonic state after seeing It’s final form. Bill later revives her after he takes her on a ride on his old bicycle, silver.

Other characters include Adrian Mellon, Will Hanlon, Alvin Marsh, Sonia Kaspbrak, and Maturin.

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